1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to single-use cameras.
2. Description of the Prior Art
35 mm film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as "single-use cameras", have become well known recently. Each single-use camera is a point-and-shoot type and it comprises a plastic light-tight camera housing, including a film cartridge receiving chamber, and an exterior decorative cardboard casing which snugly contains the camera housing. At the manufacturer, the cartridge receiving chamber is loaded with a 35 mm film cartridge and substantially the entire length of the unexposed filmstrip is factory prewound from the film cartridge into a film supply chamber of the camera housing. After the user takes a picture, a thumbwheel is manually rotated to rewind the exposed frame into the film cartridge. The rewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of one frame rotates a metering sprocket to decrement an exposure counter to its next lower number setting. When the entire length of the filmstrip is exposed and rewound into the film cartridge, the single-use camera is given to a photofinisher who tears the exterior casing off the camera housing, breaks open the camera housing, and removes the film cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber. Then, the film cartridge is broken open and the exposed filmstrip is withdrawn for processing. The unbroken parts of the single-use camera may be recycled.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,130, issued Dec. 26, 1989, discloses a single-use camera in which a plastic light-tight camera housing includes a break open part of a rear or bottom wall of the housing or a hinged door at the bottom wall which are opened to access a film cartridge in a cartridge receiving chamber of the housing. An exterior decorative cardboard casing which covers the break open part or the hinged door must be torn out of the way of the break open part or the hinged door before it is opened.
Recently, a single-use camera with the product name "Konica MINI" was announced in Japan. The Konica MINI comprises an exterior decorative cardboard casing having an open end, and a plastic light-tight camera housing arranged partly inside the exterior casing and having an end portion with a cartridge receiving chamber located outside the exterior casing. Locating the end portion with the cartridge receiving chamber outside the exterior casing, permits a remaining portion of the camera housing to be made relatively thin since the film cartridge is the thickest component and the exterior casing must snugly contain the camera housing. If the exterior casing covered the end portion with the cartridge receiving chamber as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,130, the remaining portion of the camera housing would likely have to be thickened to conform with the end portion. To remove the film cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber, a rear half of the camera housing is disconnected from a front half of the housing. Consequently, the exterior casing must first be torn off the camera housing.